Regardless of the low color accuracy (blue cast ex-works), the Full HD panel shows real potential, and the sound and picture quality are also very persuasive. The 120 Hz display refresh rate and the Nvidia’s G-Sync technology combo averts hard to watch tearing and offers much smoother picture. However, the 100% sRGB and 75% AdobeRGB are still kept for workstations and other professional devices only, very suited for design and photo editing.

No matter what type of PC games you enjoy, from fast-paced competitive shooters, white-knuckle racing games, expansive role-playing games, atmospheric horror tales or detailed strategy simulators, there are accessories made to fit your needs. For the ideal multiplayer gaming setup, consider a gamer/gaming headset with an integrated microphone that allows you to easily communicate. Some users feel that wired headsets deliver better sound quality, while wireless headsets don't have cords to tether you to your laptop. A gaming mouse offers customizable options for the optimal gaming environment, including different grip designs, mouse sensitivity, response time variations and customizable buttons.
Looking for something more bleeding edge? A new version of the Razer Blade just came out. It features an 8th gen Intel Core i7 processor, and starts at $1,900. In its review of the 2018 Razer Blade, CNET gave the machine an 8.6 overall, bemoaning its high price but saying this rig "moves the bar on slim gaming laptops, with better hardware and a bigger screen."
Why a laptop right now? With both desktop graphics card and RAM prices still inflated well over MSRP, the notebook space has never looked more attractive. A year or two ago, the price gap between desktops and laptops with comparable performance was significant. That's changing, and now we're paying an almost insignificant convenience tax to have desktop performance in a portable form.
For many years, the speakers built into gaming laptops did not provide sufficiently good audio quality to take full advantage of a video game’s sound effects and in-game music. Nowadays, some gaming laptops integrate a very sophisticated audio system capable of offering advanced performance, deep bass tones, and adequate power (some examples include the Asus Rog Zephyrus and the MSI GS65 Stealth). For lower-end computers, there is always the possibility of connecting external Bluetooth/WiFi speakers or a good pair of headphones.

When we say slider, Corsair includes a hex screwdriver with the mouse that lets you adjust the slider as per your grip and the reach of your thumb. It’s nice to see Corsair paying attention to the detail. The mouse comes with one of the best sensors in the market, it uses an impressive Pixart ADNS 3988 sensor. The sensor supports a max DPI of 12,000, however, the DPI can be adjusted as per your need.

The SteelSeries Sensei 310 is arguably the best gaming mouse for lefties, offering a comfortable design and intuitive thumb buttons, regardless of whether you game with your left or right hand. The Sensei 310's eight total buttons are highly customizable via SteelSeries' Engine 3 software, and the tweakable RGB backlighting is a nice added touch. Most importantly, the Sensei 310 is fast and responsive, making it easy to snipe enemies or command units no matter your dominant hand.

However, there is one important thing a lot of gamers don’t know. Buying a gaming mouse doesn’t necessarily mean that your skills will improve by a drastic measure. Sure, a gaming mouse might help you in some ways, but if you are buying it just for the sake of improving your skills, then you are wrong. In case you don’t know, most professional, e-sports gamers are actually winning all the competitions without the use of a gaming mouse, and yes, it does come as a shock, but they have actually gone on the record and stated that they prefer a standard mouse better simply because they are used to it.
Following this logic, we have witnessed the introduction of many relatively inexpensive gaming laptops such as the Acer V Nitro (later simply called Nitro), HP’s Omen, and Lenovo’s Legion computers. Retailing for around 800 to 900 dollars, these “entry-level” gaming laptops are equipped with a Core i5/GTX 1050 graphics chip/processor combo that is powerful enough for gaming (if you are not interested in playing the very latest games or are willing to trade some display quality for greater gameplay fluidity).
We recommend the model with an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 Max-Q graphics processor with 6 GB of dedicated memory, an Intel Core i7-8750H processor, 8 GB of RAM, and a 256 GB solid-state drive. This configuration usually costs around $1,200, in line with the other laptops we considered with similar specs. The G7 is available in black or white; we prefer black because the white lid on our unit scuffed a bit during our testing, but they cost the same, so follow your heart.
While Alienware has laptops built like tanks (yes, I view this as a positive feature), customizable bling and high-end specs targeted at gaming enthusiasts, Dell has been quietly improving their more modest consumer offerings. While not new, the Inspiron 15 7567 has a lot to appreciate about it. Visually I appreciate the black design with red accents, giving it an understated but classy look without screaming "Hey I'm a gamer!"
ASUS’s budget- concious 2017 Vivobook F510UA-AH51 15.6-inch is a truly capable machine for the price and suited to casual gamers looking to play some modern titles on low settings. It is snappy and responsive thanks to its 8th Generation i5-8250U 1.6GHz CPU and 8GB of RAM, allowing your applications to run comfortably without making the laptop feel sluggish. The design has been improved over to last year’s VivoBook, and it is both lighter and thinner, weighing in at 3.7 pounds, making it highly portable.

With said, if you are wondering about the technical details, you should know that the ROG Spatha comes with an awful lot of programmable buttons, and that’s not all, you also get a charging bad that looks stylish as hell. Now at this point, you may have guessed that the mouse is wireless, well, here’s a catch, you can use it wirelessly without any input lag, and you can use it with the wire as well. You get the RGB lights, and pretty much every other feature you’d expect from a flagship mouse. The mouse comes with 12 programmable buttons that can be programmed as per your needs using the Asus Armoury software, you also get 8,200 max DPI, amazing ergonomics and comfort for long gaming sessions, the main buttons use Omron switches that are rated for a really high click cycle, and even if they wear out, you can always replace them.

Apart from that, we should also note that 32 GB of RAM is indeed an overkill in a gaming laptop, unless you also plan on using some memory-hungry professional software as well. If not, MSI sells several more affordable variants of this laptop, including versions with a GTX 1060 instead of a 1070, differing amounts of RAM, and different storage solutions.
Alienware laptops are known for their cool designs and high-end specifications which deliver a superior gaming experience. It features an Intel Core i7 7th Gen processor and 8 GB of RAM, along with a 6 GB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 graphics card which runs almost all the advanced games seamlessly. Its 1 TB HDD and 256 GB SDD provides ample space to store your pictures, videos and music.
In our tests, the Legion Y530 kept its WASD keys on the cooler side at 101 °F (38 °C) after half an hour of Overwatch. The Asus TUF Gaming FX504GE-ES72 kept its WASD keys coolest at 94°F (34 °C), but the Y530’s keys didn’t feel uncomfortable for long gaming sessions, just a bit warm. The area where my palm rested near the trackpad reached 105 °F (41 °C); that’s a bit warmer than we’d like, but it wasn’t uncomfortable.

NEWARK, Calif. & LAUSANNE, Switzerland--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Logitech International (SIX: LOGN) (Nasdaq: LOGI) today announced that it has closed its acquisition of ASTRO Gaming, a leading console gaming brand with a history of producing award-winning headsets for professional gamers and enthusiasts. Logitech first announced its agreement to acquire ASTRO in July 2017, as the Company invests in an adjacent gaming market — the console gaming market.

Matt Clark of IGN reviewed the Logitech G305 LIGHTSPEED Wireless Gaming Mouse, awarding it an “amazing” 9.2 out of 10 star rating. Overall, he concluded that “while the Logitech G305 won’t win any awards for being the flashiest, most extreme gamer mouse, it does its job amazingly well. Perfect response times, flawless connectivity, extreme accuracy, and all of that for about half the price of other wireless gaming mice. If you’ve been on the fence about a wireless mouse, this is the mouse that'll make you want to join the club.”
If the refresh rate (which is measured in hertz, or Hz) is being called out as a feature on a given laptop, that means it's likely higher than the norm. Most laptop screens, including those in almost all budget models, stick to 60Hz, which means they redraw the onscreen image 60 times per second and thus can display up to 60 frames per second (fps) of in-game performance. (If your graphics chip can produce 90fps in a given game, you'll see only 60 of them.) Some notebook screens these days, though, can display at 75Hz, 120Hz, or more. These high refresh rates can be beneficial for some extremely fast-paced games, particularly titles played competitively online, such as Counterstrike: Global Offensive, DOTA 2, and Overwatch.
We checked out all best sales from all the major retailers, including Best Buy, the Microsoft Store, Walmart, and B&H, and have compiled the hottest sales on laptops for you below. Simply read our brief descriptions, and scroll through and then click the “Buy Now” button on the laptop or 2-in-1 you’d like to buy. A new tab will open up and you’ll be sent to your retailer and product page to complete your purchase. We’ll update these deals, and keep you up to speed with all the freshest deals as the annual holiday shopping season progresses.
John is PCMag's executive editor for hardware. A veteran of the popular tech site and magazine Computer Shopper from 1993 to 2017, he has covered just about every kind of computer gear—from the 386SX to 18-core processors—in his long tenure as an editor, a writer, and an advice columnist. He served as Computer Shopper’s editor in chief from 2008 to... See Full Bio
The Y530’s keyboard is comfortable to type on and responsive thanks to its deep, snappy keys, and its white backlight and perfectly ordinary font are the most tasteful we’ve seen on a gaming laptop. We also appreciate the inclusion of full-size arrow keys rather than the typical half-size ones manufacturers cram in, as on the Dell G7. This does mean that the number pad is farther back and a bit awkward to reach, but most people who play games will use the arrow keys more frequently.

There are currently many different types of displays on the market; however, the standard remains the 15.6″ or 17.3″ Full HD (1920 x 1080 pixels) display. Some manufacturers, such as Dell (Alienware) even offer 13.3-inch displays. There are even a few QHD (2560 x 1440 pixels) displays on the market (Dell Alienware again) as well as a few 4K (3840 x 2160 pixels) displays.

Such high product churn means there isn’t really a best time of the year to buy a gaming laptop, but here are some things that might be worth looking forward to: Intel’s first eighth-generation Core processor and quad-core ultrabook chips, Nvidia’s Max-Q approach to designing thinner and quieter laptops, MSI’s new gaming laptops, Lenovo’s Legion Y920 laptop, Acer’s Predator Triton 700 laptop, and Samsung’s Notebook Odyssey laptop.
The E 15 offers a max resolution of 1920×1080, although this will need to be set to 1366 x 768 to retain a frame rate of over 30fps when playing more demanding games. The NVIDIA GeForce 940MX offers slightly better performance than a 940M card and, unlike some of its competitors, the Aspire E 15 E5-575G-57D4 features faster GDDR5 video memory instead of GDDR3. Acer have also fitted the Aspire E 15 E5-575G-57D4 with the latest generation Intel Core i5-7200U processor, which is powerful enough to handle more hardware intensive apps and games.
Even if you're not familiar with Logitech's standard gaming mouse filigree, the G502 is very intuitive. It features two center/top buttons, one for toggling the mouse wheel between "loose" and "granular" settings, and one for adjusting DPI presets on the fly. This is the case for most Logitech mice, but it's nice to get both options on such an affordable product, and one that also features multiple tunable buttons. The G502 also uses a handy LED-based DPI indicator for various settings—normal, fast, super-fast, and slow—so it's especially good for shooter scenarios where different weapons call for different optimal speeds.
Before we begin looking at just how good the Steel Series Rival 700, there are some obvious things you should know about this mouse; the Rival 700 is unique in a sense that it carries an OLED display that can display a variety of different things including settings, as well as some GIFs that are specifically made for this display and can be downloaded from several series.
Before we forget, let's talk memory. In a gaming laptop, look for at least 8GB of RAM. (In practice, no self-respecting model will come with less.) That will give you some breathing room when switching back and forth between your gameplay window and your messaging app, but we'd save researching game tips for when you're not playing, as each successive browser window you open eats into your RAM allotment.

While its performance for modern games will be on the lower end, its value is excellent and it will at least allow you to play games such as Overwatch, CS:GO, DOTA 2 and other popular titles will be playable, albeit at reduced settings. One aspect of the E 15 E5-576-392H that may seem impressive is that it packs a 1920 x 1080 15.6-inch display. Sadly, it is of poor quality. Its lowly TN panel offers poor viewing angles and the colors looked washed out, which are issues that generally plague TN panels.

At the mid-range we see laptops with either the NVIDIA GTX 1060, or for a bit more money, a GTX 1070, both of which are a powerful gaming GPU in a mobile form factor. ASUS offers the Republic of Gamers branding Strix lineup, and the GL504 model is their 15.6-inch range. Featuring the GTX 1060 in the GL504GM, and GTX 1070 in the GL504GS models, there's a wide range of performance here depending on budget. ASUS offers either the Intel Core i5-8300H quad-core, or the Core i7-8750H hex-core CPU, and up to 32 GB of DDR4 RAM support. There's a full range of SSD choices, and you can of course also fit it with a HDD for extra space.
The G7’s 60 Hz 1920×1080 IPS display was neither the best we tested nor the worst. It made games look good, and the G7’s display looked noticeably better than the G5’s and G3’s screens, which both had a sickly greenish tint. We found that the G7’s screen couldn’t get as bright as those of the other budget gaming laptops we tested, maxing out at 228 nits compared with the Lenovo Y530’s 266 nits and the Asus TUF Gaming FX504GM’s above-average 317 nits. And although it’s not a requirement, we’d love to see a higher-refresh-rate panel available on the Dell G7, since that would make first-person games smoother and more enjoyable.

We recommend the $1,250 model with an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 Max-Q graphics processor with 6 GB of dedicated memory, an Intel Core i7-8750H processor, 16 GB of RAM, a 128 GB solid-state drive, and a 1 TB hard drive. The G5 is available in black or red, and has a red-backlit keyboard in place of the G7’s blue-accented design. But because of the screen, we recommend the G5 only if the G7 is unavailable.